


|the sniffles|

by ofwrittenlegacy



Series: The Cycle of Shame [MIT AU] [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Drabble, Iron Man - Freeform, Ironhusbands, M/M, MIT Era, MIT!Tony, Marvel - Freeform, Other, Sick!Tony, Sickfic, Tony Stark Whump, Tony is a Disaster, cycle of shame au, hes okay, howard stark is awful, idc, implied tony/rhodey, it can be ironhusbands if you want, mcu - Freeform, they're bffs, tony has the sniffles, tony stark au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 00:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19841917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofwrittenlegacy/pseuds/ofwrittenlegacy





	|the sniffles|

Tony was thirteen seconds from nose diving straight into the desk, in the most epic “dozing off” face plant of the year when something sweet and familiar caught his attention. He twisted in his seat and a straw poked his nose. He recoiled, scrubbing at his red appendage. **  
**

He had woken up sneezing and spent the duration of getting ready sniffling and scrubbing at his nose so now it was raw and abused.

His eyes lifted.

Rhodey sat there, with a refined smile, his eyes glittering. He tapped the straw against Tony’s nose again. Tony sniffled. “Good morning.”

Dumbfounded, Tony stared at the cup full of coffee in Rhodey’s hand.

“This is for you.” He continued when Tony didn’t say anything. “This morning I heard you knock like five things over while you were getting ready so I figured you might need this _‘picker upper’_. It’s an Americano, five shots of espresso, a pump of vanilla and a splash of–”

“Almond milk.” They finished simultaneously.

Tony tilted his head. “You know my order?”

“I live with you, Tony, _and_ you’re addicted to caffeine. Of course, I learned your order.” Rhodey sat the cup on his desk along with a piece of pumpkin bread. Despite having a shitty start to his day, and feeling positively horrendous, this brought a warm smile to his face.

“Thanks, honeybear. I really mean it.” Tony took a long sip of coffee, feeling his body respond positively to the taste. Oh yeah, he had really needed this.

“Of course, Tones. You know I always got your back.” Rhodey watched Tony take a bite of the loaf in front of him and waited until he was immersed in the flavorful bread to speak again. “Now, let’s talk about how you’re feeling.”

Tony paused, swallowing audibly. “Yeah, that’s not happening. Thanks for the liquid speed though, platypus.” Tony took a sip and turned back around in his seat as the professor entered the room.

Rhodey watched Tony the entirety of the lecture, as whatever he was coming down with began to really take its toll. Tony finished his coffee and set the empty cup on the floor by his feet. He was taking notes on his laptop and Rhodey watched as Tony, slowly but surely, got a few slides behind. He slid off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, resting his head in his hands. He was probably fighting a headache and obviously running a fever, if the red tint to his cheeks and ears was any indication. He also was doing a number on his eyes and nose. Every few minutes, Tony would tense, Rhodey could see it in the way his shoulder blades pinched, and then he’d flinch down. Hard. Fingers clamping his nose shut, and he’d bob forward, his elbows pressing random keys on his laptop. Then Tony would delete the “ **asdfghjk** ” he accidentally typed, sniff hard, and then wipe away the tears that collected in the corner of his eyes. It was always the same, every few minutes. And then he’d go back to looking thoroughly annoyed that he was there.

The teacher took into account all their deadpanned expression and released the class fifteen minutes early, just as they were getting into quantum dynamics and angular momentum. Tony took no time packing up his things, and throwing the cup away.

“Tony!” Rhodey caught Tony before he could beeline for the door. “Why don’t we ditch the rest of our classes and go watch movies and eat soup?”

“Jay,” Tony rasped. He sounded even worse than when class had begun. “You know I can’t do that. No matter how much I want to. If Howard finds out I missed a single class, he’ll have my ass on a platter in six seconds flat.”

“But Tony, you’re sick.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have three more classes and my dad isn’t paying for me to p-play hookie–!” Tony struggled to reply with that distracting tickle burning in his sinuses. His pink lips parted slightly, eyelashes fluttering. “I- _"_ Tony sneezed twice. Then once more. And then again for good measure. Rhodey sighed. Tony was an unstoppable force. There was no point in arguing. All he could do was set up the couch as a sick bay and go rent movies from library and get ready for when Tony stumbled in from his last class at 5 pm and collapsed on him.

“Aight. See you in a couple hours?” James placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder who nodded. Tony slung his backpack over his shoulder and adjusted his glasses.

“Yeah. Just a couple hours.”

* * *

James wasn’t prepared for the mess that was delivered to his dorm door. It was 5:17 and he was just putting on water for tea when he heard a thump and sharp cursing. Curious, Rhodey walked and opened the door to find Tony slumped against the threshold, car keys in hand, rather than his house keys. He squinted up at Rhodey, glaring.

“I had it.” _Oh_. Tony had no voice, nothing but a weak rasp. His long hair hung in his face, the gel having gave way after Tony ran a hand through his hair enough times. His eyes were bloodshot, lips cracked in dehydration, and his nose was chapped and raw. He was sweating, but he remained bundled in a button up and a sweater.

“Tony, you were using your car keys to unlock the front door.”

Tony stared down at his hand, looking at his keys like they were a foreign object to him. “Well,” he breathed, moving past James. “I was testing a theory.”

“Yeah, and how well did that turn out for you, hm?” Rhodey went to the kitchen and poured the hot water into a mug and added a tea bag and joined Tony in the living room. Tony toed off his sneakers and tossed his backpack aside; his laptop and phone and notebooks be damned.

“Shut up, asshole.”

“Love you too, Ant.” Tony fell face first onto the couch, into the mass of comforters and pillows Rhodey had set up.

Rhodey glanced at Tony, perplexed by the lack of response when he saw Tony draw up. The twenty year old had his glasses pushed up onto the crown of his head and he squinted at the light. Tony sneezed into his elbow. Then he sneezed five times too many.

Tony pulled a crumpled tissue from his pocket and pressed it to his nose.

“God, Tones. You sound really bad.” James kneeled in front of the couch. They both were only 20, going into their third year at MIT but James hadn’t seen Tony sick much. He felt a bit in over his head each time but this felt different.

Tony laughed softly. “Man, I feel like ass.”

“You look like ass.”

“Thanks,” Tony rolled his eyes. “You always make me feel so good, Jay.”

James snorted. “Just saying.” He shrugged and helped Tony sit up before he handed over the mug of tea.

“Thanks, honey bear.”

Rhodey sat on the couch, pulling Tony’s legs into his lap. They came from two very different walks of life, but Rhodey would do just about anything for his little engineer roommate. Emphasis on _little_.

“I always got your back, Tones.”


End file.
